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The Temple of Dendur
Brief Identification Completed by 10 BCE, the Temple of Dendur was commissioned by Roman Emperor Augustus and constructed by the Roman governor of Egypt , Petronius Campbell 2012. Augustus had Dendur along with several other temples built throughout Egypt to gain support of the local populace and maintain the buffer zone created by the campaigns of Petronius Aldred 1978, 11. The Temple, though never completed, was built 50 miles south of the Egyptian city of Aswan along the west bank of the Nile River . The temple was constructed in dedication to two sons of a tribal leader named Kuper , Pedesi and Pihor . The original name of the temple is Tuzis. The temple was gifted to the United States from the Egyptian government in 1965 and was first displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 27, 1978 where it has been on display ever since Campbell 2012 Technical Evaluation Consisting of 661 blocks of Aeolian sandstone, each weighing in at roughly 640 tons, the Temple of Dendur is 82 feet long and 26 feet tall at its highest point Bianchi 1978, 8. The initial structure that was built was merely a tomb for the recently deceased son of Kuper, Pedesi. In exchange for Kuper and his people's devotion to Augustus, the Roman Emperor commissioned a temple to be built directly in front of the tomb of Pedesi Bianchi 1978, 7 Aeolian sandstone was used to construct the temple. The sandstone was transported to the build site from local quarries. The Emperor Augustus and governor Petronius hired numerous architects, masons, sculptures, and painters from across Egypt to assist with the construction of the new temple Aldred 1978, 30 Prior to the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the late 1800s, the Temple of Dendur remained relatively unscathed from the environment of the west bank of the Nile. However, due to the construction of the High Dam and the resulting lake that was created from it, Lake Nasser, the Temple saw greatly increased flooding Aldred 1978, 15. When the Aswan High Dam was initially constructed, the Temple did not experience significant effects from the flooding of Lake Nasser. However, when the Dam was raised in 1933, the Temple experienced disastrous flooding. For the next 30 years, the Temple was flooded for roughly nine months out of the year Aldred 1978, 15-17. The flooding the Temple experienced caused the color of the Temple to change from a natural pink hue to a brown color with algae covering more than half of the temple Gissen 2009, 65 Approximately 22 monuments and archaeological sites from Ancient Egypt were threatened by the rising waters of Lake Nasser and the flood waters that followed. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) led a campaign in the 1960s to help restore many of these monuments and archaeological sites Haar 2007, 63. The temple was gifted to the United States in recognition for the country's support in safeguarding and restoring ancient monuments of Nubia as well as in support for the construction of the Aswan High Dam Campbell 2012. Authorities and archaeologists were forced to move the Temple following the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the early 1960s. It took two separate floodings for archaeologists finally chose to move the Temple 1978, 6. From the time the Temple was gifted to the United States until its arrival in New York City, ten years had elapsed. The wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art that houses the temple is one of the most technologically sophisticated spaces built in any western museum Gissen 2009, 62. Local Historical Context The Temple of Dendur was commissioned and constructed by Roman Emperor Augustus before 10 BCE. In Nubian culture, an individual who either is killed by a crocodile in the Nile or drowns in the Nile must be buried in a sacred coffin at the location of where the individual's body had washed up along the bank of the Nile (see Aldred 1978, 67]. To be killed by the Nile was considered extremely sacred by the Nubians of the end of the 1st Century BCE. An individual who is killed by the Nile is deemed more significant than a human and must be handled by no one other than the priests of the Nile Aldred 1978, 66. The Temple was built by the Nubians to honor the deaths of the two sons of the Blemmyes nominee of Rome, Kuper. His sons, Pedesi and Pihor, were killed by the Nile. However, it is unknown whether they drowned in the Nile together, separately, in battle, or otherwise. It is understood by Egyptologists that the Temple of Dendur was erected on the very location where the body of Pedesi washed up ashore following his death Campbell 2012. Due to the numerous military conquests of Roman Governor Petronious throughout Ancient Egypt, Augustus and Petronius commissioned a number of different temples to be either constructed or repaired 1978, 4. One of Rome's most significant allies throughout its conquest of Egypt in the late 1st Century was the nomadic warrior tribe called the Blemmyes Habachi 1969, 198 The leader of the tribe, Kuper, had been appointed to positions of authority in the Roman-Egyptian hierarchy along with his sons, Pedesi and Pihor Aldred 1978, 30 To display their gratitude to the Blemmyes, the Romans chose to erect a new temple at the burial site of Kuper's son, Pedesi, along the west bank of the Nile River Aldred 1969, 30 World-Historical Significance Presently, the Temple of Dendur represents one of the more significant technological advancements in the field of archaeology and Egyptology. The complexity of the relocation of the Temple from Dendur, Egypt, to New York City was extremely sophisticated and complex with a massive demand for man power. The relocation of the Temple from Dendur to the Metropolitan Museum of Art marked a trend in ancient Egyptian artifacts and architecture Aldred 1978, 23. The relocation of the Temple also represented the rise in tourism in the west and the rising attraction to "interesting and spectacular" ancient objects Gissen 2009, 32 __FORCETOC__ Suggested Bibliography BIANCHI, ROBERT S. "AUGUSTUS IN EGYPT: The Temple of Dendur Is Rebuilt at the Metropolitan Museum of Art." Archaeology 31, no. 5 (1978): 4-11. http://www.jstor.org.proxy-remote.galib.uga.edu/stable/41726575 Gissen, David. "The Architectural Production of Nature, Dendur/New York." Grey Room 34 (2009): 58-79. doi:10.1162/grey.2009.1.34.58. Campbell, Thomas P. "The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide." Choice Reviews Online 50, no. 02 (2012). doi:10.5860/choice.50-0619. Aldred, Cyril. "The Temple of Dendur." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 36, no. 1 (1978): 1. doi:10.2307/3269059. "The Temple of Dendur | Roman Period | The Met." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, I.e. The Met Museum. Accessed November 15, 2016. http://metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/547802. Haar, Sharon. "Preservation, Provocation, and Pedagogy: Preservation as Provocation: Rethinking Saarinen's Cranbrook. Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. ACSA Student Competition, 2006-2007." Journal of Architectural Education (1984-) 61, no. 2 (2007): 60-65. http://www.jstor.org.proxy-remote.galib.uga.edu/stable/40480759. HABACHI, LABIB. "THE DELUGE IN LOWER NUBIA." Archaeology 22, no. 3 (1969): 196-203. http://www.jstor.org.proxy-remote.galib.uga.edu/stable/41667997. "Augustus." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Accessed November 15, 2016. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Augustus-Roman-emperor. "Egypt." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Accessed November 15, 2016. https://www.britannica.com/place/Egypt. "Aswan." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Accessed November 15, 2016. https://www.britannica.com/place/Aswan-Egypt. "Nile River." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Accessed November 15, 2016. https://www.britannica.com/place/Nile-River. "The Temple of Dendur | Roman Period | The Met." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, I.e. The Met Museum. Accessed November 15, 2016. http://metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/547802. "Aeolian Terminology - National Capital FreeNet." Accessed November 15, 2016. http://web.ncf.ca/aa456/sand/overview/index.html. "Aswan High Dam." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Accessed November 15, 2016. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Aswan-High-Dam. "Lake Nasser." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Accessed November 15, 2016. https://www.britannica.com/place/Lake-Nasser. "Ancient Egypt." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Accessed November 15, 2016. https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Egypt. "UNESCO." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Accessed November 15, 2016. https://www.britannica.com/topic/UNESCO. "Nubia." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Accessed November 15, 2016. https://www.britannica.com/place/Nubia. "Blemmyes." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Accessed November 15, 2016. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Blemmyes.